Unlicensed Means You're Deadlier

Advocates for illegal immigration have argued that the answer is to allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses. Would that make a difference? Galo was a legal immigrant. He could have obtained a license, but he didn't. (The study noted that the "over-involvement rate" of unlicensed drivers didn't change after a 1994 state law required documentation of legal status; the rate should have fallen if safe drivers were denied licenses.)

"Everybody has to obey the rules of the road," Rosenberg said -- unless you're an unlicensed driver in San Francisco.

City government goes out of its way to get people out of their cars. Parking is scarce and pricey. Good San Franciscans are urged to take public transit -- unless they're unlicensed and nearly three times as likely to kill someone in a car crash. Then City Hall wants them to have a car.

Email Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@sfchronicle.com. To find out more about Debra J. Saunders and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.